Commission to consider changes to charter, elections

On Monday, Mayor Lois Frankel will propose a somewhat major change to the charter that would replace appointments for vacant commission seats with an election.

Next March, there’s a possibility that two commissioners (Molly Douglas and Kimberly Mitchell) whose commission seats aren’t up for reelection could run for mayor. Once a commissioner files in December to run for mayor, she has to resign her commission seat (although she can still serve until the March elections).

With the current system, the remaining commissioners would appoint two temporary commissioners to serve those vacant seats for a year. Frankel is proposing placing those seats, which would be filled for a year, on the March ballot. The winners would have to run again in 2012 for a full two year term.

The biggest potential problem is timing. Commissioner Bill Moss said the city will consider making a mayoral candidate officially declare 10 days before the filing deadline. That would give candidates who wish to fill the commission seats 10 days to file. Moss said he’s worried that with such a short window to mull a commission run, you could end up with only one unqualified candidate who would be guaranteed a victory. Moss said he doesn’t know what would happen if nobody declares in time.

In the appointed process, the commission accepts applications and mulls over potential candidates. Moss said that could be better than a scenario with a single unqualified candidate running.

The commission needs a majority vote to place a referendum on the November ballot that would ask voters to consider this charter change. They won’t make a final decision on Monday.

For the record, the commission could also place the mayoral term limit referendum on the ballot by a majority vote, regardless if the petition drive succeeds or not. Don’t expect that to happen.